Summer camps booked and paid for in full…

In another universe, summer would come and I’d spend 2 months with the preshus making crafts and going to the park and taking road trips around the city.

In this universe, I have a full-time job and have to work all summer, and he gets to spend the summer in summer camp. And not the expensive fancy sleep-away type camps or specialized sports type camps, but regular old adventure camp for little kids where they get to play games and do crafts and sing songs, all on the cheap. Last year I sent the preshus to this same kind of city-run camp in the fancy neighbourhood near where I work and he complained every day he had to go, but at the end of each day he’d tell me he had fun.

This year I found a location that is closer to where his little brother goes to daycare (better for me for drop-offs and pick ups) and even though I know he’ll have the same reaction to it this summer that he did last summer, I’m happy to send him there for one reason, and one reason only. It’s 1/3 the cost of the camp he went to last year. Yes, I’m that mom who sends her son to not the best camp, but the cheapest one.

It’s a reality for us that our adventures are limited by how much we can afford to spend. It won’t always be this way, thankfully, but for now, it is what it is.

Next summer he’ll go back to the same camp, but by then I’ll also be able to afford to send him to bike camp for a week and swimming camp for another couple of weeks. Giving him the chance to experience a variety of summer adventures.

He’ll also be spending a week this summer at Grandma’s house, because after his hard summer of playing at camp, he’ll need a week off to get pampered by grandma to make his summer break complete.

You know what? Sometimes the cheaper camps ARE the better camps!! …but this is coming from someone who went to the cheaper camp growing up, and didn’t get to do the 3 week long sleep-away camp where they had power boats and waterskiied and all that jazz. If my kid gets THAT kind of spoiling, I want to be there to do it. 😉 Crafts and songs and little adventures are all that the LOs need right now!

I know, I don’t know why I worry so much. I guess it’s part of me wanting him to have better summers than I had. That said, my best summers were always when I was old enough to roam free in the neighbourhood with my friends! Times have changed!

I loved summer camps – I did both the sleep away ones (not fancy with power boats or anything like that but still sleep away), and the day camps. Both were awesome for different reasons. Hope your son has an awesome time! 🙂